JP4990022B2 - Mold cleaning equipment - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a mold cleaning apparatus.

  The injection mold is equipped with an air vent (gas vent) to discharge the air from the cavity and the gas from the resin outside the mold when filling the cavity with molten resin. In order to prevent generation of bubbles, burns, burrs and the like that adversely affect dimensional accuracy and strength. In this air vent, since volatile components generated from the resin during molding are likely to adhere as deposits (dirt), periodic removal is required.

As described above, the resin mold is regularly cleaned because the deposited deposit may cause molding defects, and a mold cleaning apparatus has been proposed. (For example, patent document 1).
JP 2004-255868 A

  The mold cleaning apparatus disclosed in Patent Document 1 improves the cleaning effect by using both electrolytic cleaning and ultrasonic cleaning. However, it is necessary to remove and reassemble the mold in each cleaning. However, there was a problem of time / work loss and mold damage. In addition, since cleaning takes a long time, there is a problem in that the production efficiency is inevitably lowered when there is no alternative mold to use as a substitute.

  Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a mold cleaning apparatus that can quickly and easily clean a mold.

  The object of the present invention is a mold cleaning apparatus comprising: a steam generating unit that generates steam; and a cleaning wand unit that is connected to the steam generating unit via a pipe and injects steam from an injection port; Achieved by a mold cleaning apparatus that includes a blower and a suction part that are branched and connected to a pipe, and that blows air from the injection port by the operation of the blower and sucks from the injection port by the operation of the suction unit Is done.

  In this mold cleaning apparatus, it is preferable that the cleaning wand section includes a heating unit that heats the passing fluid.

  According to the mold cleaning apparatus of the present invention, the mold can be cleaned quickly and easily.

  Hereinafter, actual forms of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of a mold cleaning apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the mold cleaning apparatus 1 includes a steam generation unit 10 and a cleaning wand unit 20, which are connected by a flexible main pipe 2.

  The steam generation unit 10 includes a water supply tank 11 that stores cleaning water, a water softener 12 that removes hardness components contained in the cleaning water, and a can body 13 that generates steam by heating the cleaning water. The washing water is supplied to the can 13 by the operation of the water supply pump 14. The water supply tank 11 is provided with a drought warning water level sensor 111 made of an electrode rod, and is configured such that the water supply pump 14 stops when the water level falls below a predetermined level. As the cleaning water, soft water (tap water) is used in the present embodiment. However, any water that has a small burden on the steam generation unit may be used. For example, pure water may be used. When the cleaning water is pure water, the water softener 12 is not necessary, but it is preferable to use a float switch instead of the electrode rod for the water level sensor 111 (the same applies to the water level sensor 132 described later).

  The can body 13 includes a heater 131 therein, and cleaning water is heated by energizing the heater 131 to generate steam. The amount of the cleaning water stored in the can 13 is always maintained within a certain range by controlling the operation of the water supply pump 14 based on the detection of the water level sensor 132, so that the heater 131 is immersed in the cleaning water. It is. The vapor pressure in the can 13 is maintained in a certain range by energization control of the heater 131 based on detection by the pressure switch 133. The washing water stored in the can 13 can be discharged to the drainage tank 135 by the operation of the drainage electric valve 134. In the configuration shown in FIG. 1, reference numerals 15 and 16 are check valves, and reference numeral 17 is a safety valve.

  The cleaning wand section 20 is provided with a flow path through which a fluid passes, and is configured such that steam supplied from the steam generation section 10 is introduced from the fluid inlet 21 and ejected from the nozzle 22. In this embodiment, a fluororesin tube portion 23 is attached to the tip of the curved nozzle 22, and the tip of the tube portion 23 serves as a vapor injection port 24.

  A heater 25 is provided in the flow path of the cleaning wand 20 to heat the passing fluid by energization control. The heater 25 is preferably one that can efficiently heat both gas and liquid. In this embodiment, a fin heater including a spiral fin 25a around a rod-shaped heating unit is used. In addition to sheathed heaters such as heaters and thin tube heaters, other known various heaters such as electromagnetic induction heaters and PTC heaters can also be used.

  Further, the cleaning wand part 20 includes a grip part 26 on the rear end side of the heater 25.

  The mold cleaning apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment includes a blower unit 30 and a suction unit 40 in addition to the above configuration.

The blower section 30 is branched and connected to the main pipe 2 connecting the steam generating section 10 and the cleaning wand section 20 via the sub pipe 2a, and the air inlet 31 formed at the tip is factory air. It can be connected to a compressed air supply source (not shown). The air blower 30 includes a regulator 32 that adjusts the pressure of air supplied from the compressed air supply source to the cleaning wand 20 and a check valve 33 that prevents fluid flow in the direction opposite to the air supply.

  The suction unit 40 is branched and connected to the main pipe 2 via the sub pipe 2b, and a vacuum pump 41 that can be sucked from the injection port 24 of the steam generation unit 10 and droplets contained in the sucked air And the like, and a drain separation tank 42 for storing the water as drain water. The drain water separated in the drain separation tank 42 can be discharged out of the system via the drain valve 43.

  In this mold cleaning apparatus 1, the steam generation unit 10, the air blowing unit 30, and the suction unit 40 include electromagnetic valves 19, 39, and 49, respectively, and the control unit 50 is one of the electromagnetic valves 19, 39, and 49. By controlling one to open and close the rest, one of the operation modes of steam supply, air supply, or suction by the cleaning wand 20 can be executed.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the cleaning wand unit 20 is provided with an operation unit 27 having an ON / OFF switch button for each operation mode. The control unit 50 controls the opening and closing of the electromagnetic valves 19, 39, and 49. An operation mode corresponding to the button selected by the operator is displayed on the control unit 50 and executed by an input based on the button operation of the operation unit 27 provided in the cleaning wand unit 20. In addition, the steam generation part 10, the ventilation part 30, the suction part 40, and the control part 50 are accommodated in the casing (not shown) with a caster, and can move to a desired place.

  According to the mold cleaning apparatus 1 having the above-described configuration, the operator can quickly and easily perform mold cleaning by holding the grip portion 26 of the cleaning wand 20 and selecting a desired operation mode by operating the operation unit 27. Can be done. For example, when the steam supply mode is selected, the control unit 50 opens the electromagnetic valve 19 of the steam generation unit 10 and closes both the electromagnetic valves 39 and 49 of the blower unit 30 and the suction unit 40 to generate steam. The steam generated in the unit 10 is supplied to the cleaning wand unit 20. The supplied steam is reheated by the heater 25 and injected from the injection port 24. Thus, the operator can perform cleaning by steam injection with the injection port 24 being close to the mold while the mold is attached to the molding machine.

  When the air supply mode is selected, the control unit 50 opens the electromagnetic valve 39 of the blower unit 30, while closing both the electromagnetic valves 19 and 49 of the steam generation unit 10 and the suction unit 40, from the blower unit 30. Air is supplied to the cleaning wand 20. The supplied air is heated by the heater 25 and ejected from the ejection port 24. Such supply of heated air is suitable for heating a low-temperature mold before steam cleaning to enhance the cleaning effect, or for blowing off water droplets adhering to the mold surface after cleaning and drying. .

  When the suction mode is selected, the controller 50 first turns off the heater 25 and then supplies the air from the cleaning wand 20 for a predetermined time (or the supply air is below a predetermined temperature) as in the air supply mode. Until the heater 25 is automatically cooled. Thereafter, the control unit 50 opens the electromagnetic valve 49 of the suction unit 40, closes both the electromagnetic valve 19 and 39 of the steam generation unit 10 and the blower unit 30, and operates the vacuum pump 41 from the injection port 24. Suction. For example, droplets of water or oil that have entered the gaps in the details of the mold may not be removed efficiently in the air supply mode, so the cleaning operation can be performed by switching to the suction mode and sucking the droplets. Can be done quickly.

  Further, as described above, in addition to the device configuration in which the control unit 50 incorporating the CPU and the peripheral control device automatically switches between the modes and makes the air supply amount and the suction amount variable, the ON / OFF switch of the cleaning wand unit 20 As a matter of course, a simple configuration in which the solenoid valves 49, 39, and 19 are directly opened / closed individually, that is, the mode is manually switched can be considered.

  As described above, the mold cleaning apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment can supply the steam, supply heated air, or suction by selecting the operator by bringing the cleaning wand portion 20 close to the mold. The mold can be easily and efficiently cleaned without removing it from the molding machine. In addition, since daily cleaning is possible, the removal interval can be extended even when it is necessary to finally remove the mold from the molding machine for cleaning. Needless to say, the mold removed from the molding machine can be cleaned using the mold cleaning apparatus 1 of the present embodiment in addition to cleaning using an organic solvent or the like.

  Further, since the heater 25 for passing fluid heating is provided in the cleaning wand section 20, in the steam supply mode, the steam generated in the steam generation section 10 can be reheated to reliably perform the steam cleaning. In the air supply mode, air can be efficiently heated immediately before jetting.

  In addition, since the injection port 24 is composed of the tip of the tube portion 23 made of fluororesin, not only the heat resistance is good, but there is a risk of damage to the mold due to the injection port 24 coming into contact with the mold surface during the cleaning operation. Can be prevented.

  When the present inventors actually performed a cleaning operation using the mold cleaning apparatus 1 of the present embodiment, resin deposits such as PPS (polyphenylene sulfide), polyamide, flame retardant ABS, and PET (polyethylene terephthalate) were used. In some cases, rapid removal was possible, and a particularly high removal effect was confirmed. The removal effect was also good when the resin deposit was polycarbonate, LCP (liquid crystal polymer), PBT (polybutylene terephthalate), PES (polyethersulfone), or PPE (polyphenylene ether). In addition, polyacetal and BMC (unsaturated polyester) were confirmed as removable resin deposits. In addition to the resin deposit, it was confirmed that the mold release agent, oil, grease, additives, pigments and the like attached to the mold surface could be removed.

1 is an overall configuration diagram of a mold cleaning apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a top view which shows a part of metal mold | die washing apparatus in FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Mold washing | cleaning apparatus 2 Main piping 2a, 2b Sub piping 10 Steam generation part 20 Cleaning wand part 23 Tube part 24 Injection port 25 Heater 30 Air blower part 40 Suction part

Claims (3)

A steam generator for generating steam;
A mold cleaning apparatus that is connected to the steam generation part via a pipe and includes a cleaning wand part that injects steam from an injection port,
A mold cleaning apparatus comprising a blower section and a suction section that are branched and connected to the pipe, and is configured to blow air from the injection port by operation of the blower portion and to suck from the injection port by operation of the suction portion. The mold cleaning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the cleaning wand section includes a heating unit that heats the passing fluid. The mold cleaning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the injection port includes a tip of a fluororesin tube.

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